Need something for a bit of basic word processing and spreadsheet stuff (when I don’t want to work in Google Drive, that is).

there are no students or anyone is the household able to get a cheap legit copy 😉

Is Open Office any good yet? What else is there?

Open Office / Libre Office.

But I tend to stick to Drive/Docs these days unless absolutely necessary.

Open office has been good for years. No need to pay Microsoft.

Been using Libre for years, that every time. Compatibility issues are nowhere near as bad as they were many moons ago, even MSOffice can work with the OpenDoc standard.

Wifey has used Kingsoft Office for numerous uni assignments with no issues, also used a version for Android on my nexus tablet again all worked fine

Libre, that’s it.

http://www.howtogeek.com/187663/openoffice-vs.-libreoffice-whats-the-difference-and-which-should-you-use/

there are no students or anyone is the household able to get a cheap legit copy

Apparently if your work has Office 365 you can also get a cheap home copy. A colleague has got it, was less the £10 I think.

I had Apache Open Office until last year. It does work but it’s a bit clunky, if you’re used to either Word or the very simple but clear Google Docs.

Edit: the big weakness with Open Office when I used it was that it totally messed up formatting of some word files. It had to be used with caution for anything that mattered!

No, Word 2003 or whatever at work. Installing Libre Office and I’ll see how I get on.

I had Apache Open Office until last year. It does work but it’s a bit clunky, if you’re used to either Word or the very simple but clear Google Docs.

This, basically. It works, but it’s nothing like as slick or nice to use as Word. Same with Excel / Calc.

it’s nothing like as slick or nice to use as Word

am I alone in thinking word is horrible to use?!

@djambo. I wouldn’t use anything else and am prepared to ay the asking price.

If Word is horrid the alternatives are horrider

Another one for open office here, no issues over the last few years.

If Word is horrid the alternatives are horrider

+1000.

am I alone in thinking word is horrible to use?!

it really helps to run through the tutorial on the MS site, especially if you are used to older versions

If your are used to Word/Excel from work it is better just to buy it unless that amount of cash hurts. In the end it gets painful having to learn yet another piece of software 🙁

Otherwise LibreOffice

If your are used to Word/Excel from work it is better just to buy it unless that amount of cash hurts. In the end it gets painful having to learn yet another piece of software

Is the Home Use Programme still running? If your employer has a Software Assurance contract with MS, you get a home copy of full Office for a tenner.

Still using 2013 on the wifes laptop. Libre Office does everything I need on the Mac, but I have a work laptop with 365 if I need the real thing.

am I alone in thinking word is horrible to use?!

No, I’ve always hated it, since we moved from WordPerfect er, 20 years ago!

Open Office is great, bet you’ll barely notice the difference.

Libre/Open Office both conform to Word 2003 layout so are great for people (like me) who aren’t prepared to relearn the whole interface.

Work are upgrading to 2010 though and missus will likely be working with it so we’ve taken the plunge and upgraded. It all comes down to what you’re comfortable working with, as said the reformatting thing has rarely happened to me.